


One Truth

by FugitiveArchivist



Category: Hemlock Grove
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-08
Updated: 2015-10-18
Packaged: 2018-04-25 11:51:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4959604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FugitiveArchivist/pseuds/FugitiveArchivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just one take on what could follow seasons two. Started posting now to beat season 3.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Immediate Reactions

If there is one thing Roman Godfrey knows for certain in this twisted, fucked-up world of theirs, it’s that Peter Rumancek loves him. Because Peter should run; after Nadia, after the beast, after Olivia or just plain away.  
Instead he pulls Roman from the ledge. Promises they’ll find Nadia, that Roman will never become like Olivia, that he’ll stay forever. Destiny gasps when Peter says that, and just like that it becomes Roman’s north star, the one truth he can count on.  
They spend the first night on a cot in Shelly’s room at the tower. Roman curls into the tightest ball he can while still able to see Shelly and Peter wraps himself around him as completely as he’s able. Something deep and primal in Roman resents Destiny’s presence at the foot of the bed.    
In the morning he wakes when Peter gently pulls away. Before he can figure out why, Peter is whispering “Hi” in the tone he reserves for Shelly and Nadia.  
Shelly’s voice, Shelly’s voice! Answers back, “Hi Peter.”  
Neither of them seem to be aware of Roman watching them.  
“We can’t stay for long pretty girl. They stole our baby.”  
“Baby?”  
“Her name’s Nadia and she’s gonna need her aunt Shelly.”  
Shelly giggles as she always has for Peter, “Uncle Johann will keep me safe. Will you keep Roman safe?”  
“I’m not fit to be a single father, so yeah, I’ll keep Roman safe.”  
They watch each other quietly for a long moment before Shelly turns and beckons Roman over.   
Peter retreats to wake Destiny and give them the illusion of privacy. Despite having no secrets left from Peter he appreciates the gesture for what it is.   
“Hi Sis.”  
“Roman. You finally noticed what was right in front of you.”  
He glances back at Peter, “I’m starting to.”  
She seems to consider him, “Bring my niece home.”  
“She’ll love you,” Roman promises as he kisses her cheek.  
Pryce arrives as he’s pulling away and seems not to notice just how crowded the room is. “I am so sorry Glowworm.”  
Shelly shakes her head, “Not your fault Uncle Johann.”  
“And yet it crushes my heart that I wasn’t able to prevent it.”  
Shelly acknowledges that silently before changing the subject, “I’m an aunt.”  
The statement seems to startle Pryce, “And we are doing all we can to help Roman find her.”  
Three days ago Roman would have growled about Pryce staying away from his family. But Pryce is no longer the enemy and any help is better than no help. But he can’t bring himself to thank Pryce either, at least not yet.

They spend the day pursuing their usual plan of attack- chase it without a plan- which proves fruitless. Peter spends the evening pacing Destiny’s living room in a flurry of phone calls. By sundown Nadia has a new back story: Her mother was an old flame of Peter’s and he’d returned to take custody of his child when she told him she was putting her up for adoption. He’d brought her home to Roman who had trouble accepting her as well as Peter’s running away so suddenly to get her. While they were patching it up they’d hired Miranda as a nanny and last night both nanny and child had disappeared. Or so they tell the police.  
Peter clearly puts no more faith in the police than Roman, but for their little girl he will leave no stone unturned. Roman for his part hires a P I and asks Destiny if she needs anything for her search. “Got it myself,” She holds up one of Nadia’s blankets and waves them away.  
As they collapse into Peter’s tiny bed Roman finds it in himself to smirk, just a little, “So you’re her Daddy now?” And saying it makes him realize it should bother him to hear someone else claim his child, but this is Peter and he trusts Peter unconditionally.  
“I always was. But so are you. I meant what I told Shelly, we are getting our daughter back.”  
Roman does the only thing he can think of in response to that, he kisses Peter with everything he can’t seem to say on his lips.

Roman is a little ashamed that it’s Pryce and Shelly that arrange for Norman and Marie’s funerals, but in the search for Nadia and simply holding himself together he has forgotten Norman’s last brave acts. That the man was his real father is both unsurprising and disturbing by turns, but he shrugs it aside, like so much, to fall into the murky depths of the past.   
Peter fusses when the tailor drops by to measure him for a suit but at the grave site he silently keeps an arm around Roman and bares the stares of a town that may hate them, but it needs them all the same.  
They remain long after the others have all gone until Peter almost whispers, “Need a minute?”  
Roman shakes his head no but leans toward the grave to whisper, “Thank you for saving Shelly.”  
Behind the wheel of the Jag Peter hesitates, “Where to?”  
“I know we’re imposing on Destiny but I can’t go back there. Not without her. Maybe not ever.”  
“We could go to the trailer. We never actually sold it.”  
“No, you don’t want to go there Peter.”  
“Could you handle the mansion? It’s still yours isn’t it?”  
“I didn’t want to give it up completely in case Shelly came home,” Roman confirms softly. “You can’t leave me there alone. Like not ever.”  
“I haven’t exactly left your side much the past week, have I?”  
“I killed her there Peter and she didn’t fucking stay dead.”   
It clearly takes Peter a minute to determine which her he means. “Shee-it. Okay, so it’s a temporary solution. But we need a good night’s sleep and we aren’t getting that at Dee’s.”  
“You just want to have life affirming post funeral sex without your cousin in the next room.”  
“You caught me, I’m an insensitive pervert. Oh wait, that’s you.”  
“Fuck you.”  
“Not my turn, Juliet.”  
That makes Roman laugh and Peter starts the car.

After three uneasy days in the mansion Roman makes a decision, “We can’t keep staying here. I’m going to have the realtor look for a new place. Something that’ll work for… when we get her back.”  
The idea of truly putting down roots makes Peter uneasy but he too is haunted by this place. “Nothing with glass walls, okay?”  
Roman gives a rueful chuckle, “In retrospect that was a very poor choice.”  
“It suited you. It just wasn’t terribly defendable, and you know how trouble follows us home.”  
“The new place will be more defendable, and you know, more us.”  
“Baby friendly would be good, for a start,” Peter teases.   
“I’ll be sure to mention that. Any other requests?”  
“A guest room so Mom or Dee could visit might be nice.”  
“Would she? Lynda I mean.”  
“When things die down a little, yeah I think so.” He offers Roman a soft smile, “She’ll want to meet her granddaughter.”  
Roman feels like grinning stupidly so he kisses Peter instead. “At least three bedrooms then.”  
“Four. In case we find a way Shelly can come home.”  
“This is why I fucking need you.”

The first night in the new house is educational for Roman. Destiny hangs herbs in the eaves outside and spreads something across the thresholds. Peter sets up Nikolai’s picture with the small elephant statue that he’d left for Roman during the coma. Neither of them says anything when Roman adds a picture of Norman and Leetha on the other side of the statue. It’s not as obvious as the shrine at the trailer, but it feels the same. When pictures of Lynda and Shelly find a home on a different shelf something slots into place, this is home. In a way the mansion and the glass house never were. There are no servants here, no garish artworks, nothing so far that they didn’t bring with them save the bed in the master bedroom.   
Before she goes Destiny pulls Roman aside, “You saved him, and I appreciate that. But I expect one thing from you going forward,” She takes a deep breath and for a split second he expects the worst of her, a demand of money perhaps, “I know he’s promised to look after you, but you have to look after him too Roman. He has a tender heart.”  
Roman laughs with relief, “Of course I will Destiny. I need him.”  
She watches his eyes as he speaks and then nods, “When I told Lynda about Peter’s… declaration she wasn’t surprised. She’d already told him he had to stay here in Hemlock Grove. She seemed to think this is where he belongs. And she was already doing some research on your… condition in the old country.” She hands him a flash drive, “This is what she’s found so far. She says she hopes it helps.”  
“If you talk to her again let her know we both miss her.”  
“I’m sure she knows, but I’ll tell her.”  
“Thanks Dee,” Peter startles them both.

Almost as soon as Destiny is gone Peter tows Roman into their new bedroom and puts Roman’s laptop in front of him. “See if she wrote to us or just sent what she found,” he instructs as he starts taking off his clothes.   
Roman watches him for a moment before complying, “Planning something?”  
“Just getting comfortable,” Peter shrugs.  
Lynda has indeed attached a brief message, “Hello Boys. I hope at least some of this helps. Take care of each other. Love you, L.”  
She’s also included a table of contents with brief descriptions of the various things she’s found. Some are transcripts of verbal histories, others are scans of old books, and one is a research paper written in Romanian that she notes might have more bearing on books than facts, “but it can’t hurt to read it.”  
Peter has his chin tucked over Roman’s shoulder when he closes the file and shuts down the laptop. They both flop down on their backs and Peter murmurs, “Did Olivia ever tell you any stories about your kind?”  
“Just the one,” Roman begins telling it, unconsciously falling into the almost hypnotic cadence Olivia had always told it in. As he recites the line about the rings he plucks one off of Peter and slips it onto his own hand.   
Despite the fact that it can’t be all that shocking Peter gasps at hearing that Olivia sent her child into slavery.  
When he actually speaks it’s to ask, “A victim of their own hand?”  
Roman traces the unmarred skin of his wrist and smiles ironically, “She tricked me into it. I thought I was taking away her victory, and seeing as I was all alone I had nothing left to lose.”  
“I fucked up and I’m still sorry.”  
Deciding they’re both being dangerously emotional he smiles lewdly, “Prove it.”

They live day to day for a while, never forgetting the limbo that they’re in, but they find moments of joy all the same.   
Peter insists they buy the things for Nadia’s room together. His wild enthusiasm rather quickly infects Roman. All of it has more personality than the starkly useful things someone, Roman wasn’t even sure who, bought the first time. By the time they’re done Nadia is set to return to enough clothing to last her for a year and a mountain of stuffed animals. None of the furniture for her room matches but it’s all sturdy and comfortable, which seems to have been Peter’s criteria for the selections.  A guess that’s proven true as more of the new house gains furniture. It would have driven Olivia up a wall and Roman finds for the most part he likes it. And he won’t say it but it amuses the hell out of him how much Peter enjoys handing over Roman’s credit card and smirking when the clerk’s eyes go wide.  
Their idyll ends abruptly when one night they wake up from another of the shared dreams with enough information to find a real lead on their daughter.

“I’ll make you a deal Johann, a good deal. From now on you and I are going to be one hundred percent honest with each other and I won’t interfere with your work unless it threatens my family. To be clear, my family is Shelly, Nadia, Peter, Lynda and Destiny Rumancek.”  
Pryce watches him contemplatively, “So you and the Rumancek boy are sleeping together?”  
Knowing he’s being pushed about the validity of his offer he sets aside his disgust at Pryce obviously picturing it, “Peter and I are together, yes.”  
“Olivia would be livid,” Pryce observes, clearly savoring the thought.  
Roman shrugs in response, “Her story ends in her destroying what she wants most. I stole his ring from his finger and the love in his heart right back.” He glances down to his previously bare left hand and smiles at the memory.  
Pryce gives him the smile Roman first saw in Shelly’s room downstairs not so long ago, “I believe we have an understanding little prince.”  
“Peter and I finally have a lead on Nadia. If we don’t make it back I expect you to look after Shelly.”  
“Always. And in the spirit of our new agreement please know that I will kill Olivia if she returns.”  
“And I appreciate that about you Johann.”  
Pryce chuckles.

Nadia’s rescue is a haze of blood once it’s over. The only things that are indisputably certain are that Nadia is safe and Spivak, whatever he is, is dead. There is no sign of Miranda. Nadia takes a few toddling steps towards Peter before he scoops her up and growls “home” at Roman. There’s a possibility Pryce sent a team after them to scrape up the leavings but he’ll look into that once his family is home again.  
It isn’t until Nadia, still in Peter’s arms, reaches for him and murmurs, “Dada,” that he comes to his senses. It’s the first word he’s ever heard her say even though she was more than old enough to be talking when she was taken.  
Peter pulls him close and presses Nadia into his arms grinning widely, “That’s right sweetheart, he is your Dada.”  
“Watch out, she might start calling you Mama.”  
“Nah, she’s a smart girl.”  
Nadia still seems unnaturally aware of what’s going on around her, but Roman is no longer bothered by it. The first night home Peter keeps her between them in their bed. In the morning he gets up without a word and Roman panics for a moment before Nadia reaches for him.   
Peter grins at them when they emerge, “That’s all you have to do you know, let her tell you what she needs.”  
As if responding to that statement Nadia puts her head down on Roman’s shoulder and pats his chest while muttering, “Dada.” He kisses her forehead in return. She shifts her gaze to Peter and adds “Nanas.”  
“Exactly!” He laughs and pulls a jar of banana baby food from the fridge. He presses it and a spoon into Roman’s hand before kissing them both and heading back for cereal for himself and Roman.  
Roman takes the hint and begins the wholly unfamiliar process of feeding his daughter, “Did I forget stopping for groceries?”  
“Dee dropped some things by after I called to tell her we got Nadia back.”  
They’re quiet awhile before Roman asks, “Do you have any idea what we’re doing?”  
Peter laughs, “Not really.”  
“Shee- it.”  
“Shee- it.”


	2. rumors

The first couple of days they stumble from one unfamiliar situation to the next. By the fourth day they’re both going stir-crazy. Peter packs Nadia’s bag and directs Roman out the door, “Let’s introduce our girl to her aunt.” This time they stop at security and Roman has them issue Nadia and Peter both permanent badges with full clearance. He especially enjoys the looks on both the guards’ faces when he introduces her as “our daughter, Nadia.”

Both Pryce and Roman’s assistant meet the elevator on Shelly’s floor. Pryce offers the baby a genuine smile as Roman hands her over to Peter with a soft, “I’ll catch up in a minute.”

Peter grins at him, “We’ll be fine.”

“Smartass,” Roman mutters as he’s handed a tablet, “Why are the security upgrades still on hold?”

“You didn’t approve of the expense before your… leave Sir.”

“Email me next time. Anything else?”

“Are you back from your leave Mr. Godfrey?”

“Let’s face it, I was micromanaging before and with a toddler at home… I’ll be in for board meetings and when things need my direct attention. I expect you to make those judgment calls.” The young man looks nervous, “You can email me at any time.”

“Yessir.”

He hands the tablet back and heads off in search of his family.

 

 

When he arrives in Shelly’s room she’s giggling as Nadia pats her face. “Told you she’d love you,” Roman smirks.

“She’s beautiful,” Shelly tells him as she reaches with unmarked, perfectly mobile, hands for the child. Peter glances to Pryce, not Roman, for permission and it takes a second to register that the hesitation is for the sake of Shelly’s hands, not the baby.

Pryce is watching him, “It will help millions of others as well.”

“And keep the company in the black for a decade, so long as it will withstand FDA scrutiny.”

“It shall.”

“Thank you, Pryce.”

“Surely by now we’ve reached a first name basis.”

Roman watches him carefully for a moment, “Why did you help Olivia for all those years?”

“It was two fold, really. It was a chance to study what made the Upir different from human beings, and she signed off on the budget for Project Ouroboros no questions asked, year after year.”

“I will not.”

“We had established that, yes.”

“So long as we understand each other Johann.” When he receives a nod in response he watches his sister holding his daughter in brand new hands, “Will that last?”

“Thus far all signs point to yes, but it will be a while before I would call it probable.”

“You hope so, you mean,” Peter interjects settling into Roman’s side pretty naturally.

Pryce raises an eyebrow and Roman shrugs at him, “We don’t keep secrets. I would have told him what you said when we got home.”

“How very… domestic.”

“You need to find time to date Johann,” Roman comments just as Nadia calls to him. He sits on Shelly’s bedside and gives his daughter the attention she demands.

Peter chuckles, “Not that it’s any of our business, but look at the wonders it did for his personality.”

That startles a laugh out of Pryce and instantly Peter likes him a little more. He drops his voice and says, “Thank you. For everything you’ve done for Shelly. For trying to help him. For taking the deal.”

“Enlightened self interest, I assure you.”

Peter makes a face, “You could lie to _me_ , you know, just a little.”

“I don’t need to. You, like I, have a sense of purpose. And I don’t interfere with your purpose. Though it might ease your mind to know I value Shelly’s happiness over my work, even given that Olivia destroyed it.”

“That does help,” Peter admits.

 

 

Nadia has been fussy most of the night so Roman is in her room rocking her when his phone rings. He can hear Peter shuffle across their room and yawn a “hel-lo?” Whatever response he gets seems to wake him up a bit, as he starts down the hall and offers a puzzled, “I’m his partner actually, could you hang on a moment?”

Peter gently trades Roman the phone for a now quiet Nadia.

“Hello?”

“Mr. Roman Godfrey?”

“This is he,” The tone is clipped, tight with his unease.

“I’m sorry to call so late, Mr. Godfrey. I’m the intake nurse at Mercy General in Williamsport, and we’ve just had a woman identified as Olivia Godfrey dropped off at our emergency room. You’re listed as her next of kin, and given her condition she may not make it to morning.” Peter is still watching curiously. “Just a moment.” He drops the phone to his side and murmurs, “Olivia’s in the hospital. Dying.”

Peter nods and begins packing Nadia’s bag.

Roman just nods and returns to the call, “We’ll be there in an hour.”

 

 

“Is it wrong that I hope she really is dying?” Peter asks as he buckles Nadia into her car seat.

“I don’t know if it’s wrong, but I’m with you. And this time I’m cremating her.”

Peter sings softly to Nadia until she falls asleep.

Roman’s dying for a cigarette but they agreed not to smoke with her in the car on the same day that they agreed the jag made a crappy family car. Instead he taps rapidly on the sedan’s steering wheel and murmurs, “Partner, huh?”

Peter smirks, “Only thing that really works. Little more committed than a boyfriend, not actually a husband. And lover kinda just doesn’t sound right with the little lady in the mix.”

That stills Roman’s hand, “Would husband be something you’d consider?”

“Told you months ago that I was staying forever. Kind of up to you exactly what that means.”

“No it isn’t. As long as you stay you’re keeping your promise. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want more than that, but it is all I could hold you to.”

Peter leans across Roman to tap his ring, “You stole a ring from my finger and the love in my heart, told me you were doing it and I didn’t do a thing to stop you. You bought us a house, and as scared as that made me I did my best to make it our home. I put up with your tantrums and your horrible jokes. The wolf slept half the night in our bed last month. I’d say all we were missing from the ‘husbands’ thing is the paperwork, but I don’t exactly have examples to judge by.”

“Would you want that?” Roman asks again.

“I dunno. A baby _and_ a wedding ring might cramp my style.”

“Can’t we have an adult conversation, just once?”

“Fine. I love you, dumbass. I’m here to stay. Married works for me. Living together to raise the pup is okay if that’s what you want. If we’re screwing around until something you like better comes along I might beat the crap out of you. Ball is in your court, what do you want?”

“A bunch of things I really shouldn’t say with our far too intelligent daughter in the back seat and for you to want to marry me.”

“You are so much goddamned hard work. Marry me Roman, before we both stubbornly decide not to admit we want to.”

Roman gives a relieved laugh, “How’s a week from Monday sound?”

“Like you’re impatient, but that’s not a bad thing.”

“Impatient would be having my assistant find us someone who’d meet us at the hospital tonight.”

“Spoiled brat.”

“You knew that.”

 

 

Nadia fists a hand in Peter’s shirt but shows no real signs of waking. He shifts her a little so that her forehead is pressed to his neck and tucks his other hand around Roman’s hip. The intake nurse seems poised to object, possibly to bringing a toddler into a terminal patient’s room, possibly to Peter and Nadia in general, but apparently one look at Roman is enough to convince her otherwise. Neither of them is prepared for the state they find Olivia in.

Roman would compare her to Peter just before the final step of his transformation, but there is nothing beautiful about Olivia. Torn flesh is exposed over most of her body, the bandaging that was clearly begun on her abdomen abruptly abandoned leaving welling gashes exposed. Her face is relatively unmarked and when Nadia makes a small snuffling noise her eyes open.

Peter tenses but Olivia is in no state to move, though her eyes track the baby fiercely. Roman puts himself between his family and his mother.

“You found her,” Olivia manages weakly.

“And I tore the thing that stole her apart,” Roman informs her menacingly.

“You want us to go wait in the lobby?” Peter asks quietly.

“No. Just… don’t let her touch Nadia.”

“That wasn’t going to happen no matter what,” Peter assures him unconsciously bringing his free arm up around Nadia to protect her. “Besides, our baby girl can protect herself if it comes to that.”

“Wouldn’t count on that with her life on the line,” Roman mutters before devoting his full attention to the ruined creature that was once his mother. “Are they right, Olivia, are you dying?”

“I’m not sure. Things have been harder to gauge since losing Johann’s assistance. You’re looking well Darling. I assume you’re feeding.”

“Not that it’s any of your concern, but yes, on donated blood,” Roman informs her, wondering if she can see Peter’s spectacular hickey from her angle. He’s never fed from his fiancé but let her draw whatever conclusion she wants. “What did this” He gestures almost absently at her wounds, “to you?”

“I had a disagreement with a very old friend.” Her eyes track the gesturing hand unwaveringly, “What’s that on your hand?”

He tips his hand into his own field of vision, “I suppose it’s an engagement ring now.”

She glares at him.

Peter laughs, “Was stealing it your first attempt at getting me to propose?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Peter crows delightedly, “It was! You do know you could have done the asking, right?”

“I’m not good at asking, and I didn’t think demanding was the right way to go about it, okay?”

“I would have known what you meant.”

“We don’t have a great track record with that.”

“You’re cute when you want to throw things at me.”

“I am always fucking adorable. And this is neither the time nor the place.”

Peter laughs and leans back against the wall.

“You cannot marry-”

“Can it, Olivia. I absolutely am marrying him. Why did you have them call me?”

She breathes unevenly for a moment before responding, “If I am dying I wanted to see you again.”

“Well, you’ve seen me. And your granddaughter. And tacitly insulted your son-in-law. If that’s all I’ll get started on the funeral arrangements.”

“Darling, surely by now you’ve realized you can’t do this alone.”

“I’m not alone. I have Peter.”

“He can’t help you. He doesn’t-”

Roman cuts her off, “He keeps me from becoming a monster like you and that is exactly the help I need.”

“What can either of you do about what _she_ is?”

“That’s where actual parenting comes in.” He moves to Peter’s side to put a hand on his daughter as they talk about her. “What she can do makes her special, but we’re all special. That’s not what makes you a monster. Your total fucking disregard for everyone else is what makes you a monster Olivia.”

“They just aren’t wired that way,” Peter smirks at Olivia.

“You tell yourself that,” She addresses only Roman, “but you can only fight what you are for so long before it catches up to you.”

“If the alternative is becoming you and destroying everything I profess to love I’ll take my chances.”

“I won’t let that happen,” Peter promises yet again.

“And you knew Peter was my salvation. That’s why you made sure you’d run him off before goading me into killing myself.”

There’s a twitch of a smirk on her lips, “You wouldn’t have done it otherwise. You thought having a friend made you invincible.”

“Not invincible, not at all. Just no longer as vulnerable. I dreamed myself an epic hero’s quest while in that coma, and I just now realized what it was I was supposed to be steeling my heart against. It wasn’t pain, or suffering, or unrequited love. It was you. Up until the moment you tried to get me to kill my child I loved you. And even when I came to hate you, you were still my mother. Now I understand: you’re not even that. You’re an empty shell where my mother should have been. Dimitri didn’t steal the love in your heart. He left when he found there was no love there to be had. He was a possession you wanted, just like the rest of us.”

Olivia’s eyes flash with either real pain or rage but nothing else about her moves. It is this stillness that convinces Roman she truly is in dire straits.

“You want a companion as cold as you are. I see that now. But you aren’t cold because of what _we_ are, it’s because of who _you_ are. And I’m not like you. One more thing to thank Norman for, I suppose. Is my grandfather still alive?”

“I have no clue.”

“What was your original last name?”

“Luspec.”

Nadia wakes abruptly and turns her all too knowing gaze on Olivia. “No you don’t little one,” Peter murmurs and she turns back to him.

“Hun-gee Peta,” Nadia tells him as though she hadn’t just been glaring actual death at her grandmother.

Peter looks to Roman to make sure he no longer needs back up before nodding, “Okay Princess. Say Goodbye to your Grandma.”

“Not Lynn,” Nadia objects.

“Nope. She’s your daddy’s mom.”

Nadia glares less fiercely and obediently says, “Bye-bye.”

“I’ve got my phone if you need us before we come back on our own,” Peter assures Roman before leaving the room.

 

 

The silence stretches for five full minutes once they’re alone together before Roman pulls a chair over and collapses into it.

“She’s speaking very well.”

“She’s two. And very smart. Also she doesn’t seem to like you. Which is strange for her. But then she often knows things she really shouldn’t and might recall you trying to kill her.”

“I’d never have killed her. Or let you kill her. She was born Upir, and that’s a rare gift. I waited centuries for you.”

“Why did you really send for me?”

Olivia sighs, “I heard rumors of you two playing house. It’s the talk of the club.”

“Of course you still take lunches at the club.”

“Why would I stop?”

“We thought you’d left town after killing Shelly and Norman, actually.”

“Johann hushed all that up. Why would I leave?”

“Silly me. As to your rumors, I’m sure they’re an equal mix of fact and fiction. Peter and I are raising Nadia together if that’s what you’re asking, but surely you got that from what you’ve seen so far.”

“If your taste runs to men I’m sure we could find you a more suitable companion.”

“I love Peter. He is my ideal companion. Though I will not repeat that in front of him.” He smirks at her, “And legally Nadia belongs to him anyway.”

“Excuse me?”

“We tried everything we could to get her back, including reporting her kidnapping. Since you had Pryce declare her dead at birth she needed a new identity. Officially she’s Peter’s child and his running off to claim her caused our temporary falling out. I’m surprised _that_ story isn’t going around the club. We low-key spread it around town ourselves.”

“I refused to believe you’d let that… werewolf gypsy trash claim your child.”

Roman shrugs, “What’s mine is his. Including our daughter. Your prejudices are your own, Olivia. I never wanted to be the dragon, and I’ve never seen my connection to Peter as anything but the truest proof that I can be a better man.”

“Better than what?” Olivia hisses, “What you _are_ is superior to the puny humans you so idolize.”

“Better than the parasite you turned me into. Than the spoiled self-involved useless teenager I used to be. Peter and I have saved lives, and we’re doing a good job with Nadia. For the first time in her life I’m sure I’m a good father. And she’s tied for the title of best thing that ever happened to me. I adore them both. Neither of them has to earn my affections, I love them for who they really are.”

“I should never have given her to you.”

“I would have burned your world to the ground to get her back. Whatever did this to you was thorough, but I would give new meaning to brutal if you touched my family. And that isn’t just Peter and Nadia, Lynda and Destiny are family too.” He doesn’t mention Shelly in case Olivia is unaware that she hadn’t actually killed her.

“You’re saying these things just to hurt me, aren’t you darling?”

Roman laughs humorlessly, “If I thought you could be hurt, perhaps. Lynda has been more of a mother to me from an ocean away than you were for eighteen years in close quarters. Dee saw Peter and I at our lowest points and offered a hand up rather than the fear or derision we probably deserved. They’re family, not because of Peter but because of what they’ve done for me and Nadia. The town seems to still hate me, but it’s okay now, cause I’ve got them.”

He sighs deeply, “If you really are dying, and you want me to be here for you I can do that.”

Olivia doesn’t really respond so Roman takes her hand and settles in to wait.

 

 

When Peter returns with a sleeping Nadia an hour or so later Olivia’s breathing has started to go harsh. Roman glances at him and reaches back for his hand.

Peter chuckles and pulls the spare chair over. He takes the offered hand, kisses it, and tucks it under his own on Nadia’s back. “You okay?”

“I thought I hated her too much to be upset to see her like this.”

Peter shrugs, “No matter what she’s done, to you, to your dad, to Shelly, she’s still your mom. You’re within your rights to hate her, but you’re not cold enough to not love her just a little bit too.”

“Shee-it.”

“Shee-it.”

“It” Nadia echoes sleepily.

“We’re bad for her vocabulary,” Peter observes absently.

“When her teachers complain we’ll claim it’s some new age parenting crap about not stifling her.”

Near sunrise the machines start to blare their warnings. The boys back up to the wall as Nadia awakens. She watches the flurry of activity with her usual attentiveness and calls out “Bye-bye” when the heart monitor flat lines.

Peter takes Roman’s hand when he hears him whisper, “Goodbye Olivia.”

 

 

Roman arranges for Olivia’s body to be released to a funeral home near the hospital where he’s certain Pryce has no influence, just in case. When he asks the funeral home’s representative to cremate her as soon as possible he just nods, “Certainly sir. We’ll see that it’s taken care of tomorrow, well later today. We’ll be able to release the ashes to you by the evening since we aren’t going to be doing a viewing.”

“Thank you, her family traditions require a swift cremation.”

“We can deliver them to the church or residence of your-”

Roman shakes his head, “My fiancé and I will pick them up. One last thing we can do for her, you know?”

“I understand.”

When he gets to the waiting room Peter’s asleep on the sofa with Nadia on his chest. He’s tempted to pick them up bridal style but Peter tends to object to that, especially with Nadia in the mix. Instead he crouches beside them and runs a hand through Peter’s hair, “Hey sleeping beauty, let’s head home.”

Peter frowns deeply before setting it aside, “All done?”

“We’ll have to drive back over to pick up the ashes tonight, but maybe Destiny can stay with Nadia for that?”

“I’ll call and find out, sure. You get any sleep while we’ve been here?”

Roman shakes his head, “None at all. You can drive home.”

“Take her,” Peter instructs softly.

Roman situates her so she rests heart to heart with him and feels something in him relax. Peter seems to know what he’s done as he aligns himself in the same position behind him and splays a hand on Nadia’s back. They spend a long moment like that before Roman turns around, “I’m not sure I’ve ever said so before but I love you. And if it had been you we just lost I’d loose my shit, just so you know.”

Peter gently tugs him down until they’re forehead to forehead, “I know you do. And I promise if it is in my power I will always be by your side.”


End file.
